Miss Tick Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 My dc are going to finish Saxon 3 at the end of this summer and I need some help deciding what to do next. Both do fine in math, although they don't strike me as "mathy". We school through the summer and since we don't take breaks we've skipped most of the review lessons at the beginning of each book (and K was almost all review :tongue_smilie: so we started 1). This year we've been doing math 4 days and doing an alternative math day on the other one - SM CWP 1, logic, games, etc. Rather than just keep plugging on forward, I'm thinking it would be a good time to circle back and let the math facts really get cemented (they know them, but I suspect they are often re-calculating them), and perhaps look at some of the topics from a different perspective. They will be 7 shortly, so I feel like we have some flexibility in our schedule. What do you think about this plan? What would you suggest for a curriculum/level to step to (and why)? One reason I'm asking now is that I see HSBC has Math Mammoth on sale and I thought the dark blue books might be an option for us. Beast Academy sounds interesting also, but, of course, I haven't actually seen the material. Thanks for any thoughts you have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PentecostalMom Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 We have tried the blue books and honestly, I they I don't think they are *that* spectacular. I bought addition, subtraction, and place value from Currclick and have used aboout 2/3 of addition. Dd doesn't mind doing the pages, but I find there is enough review in Abeka for me, especially with the speed drill pages. Now if you plan to use them alone to help cement the facts, and not alongside another program, that may work nicely. Do you plan to continue with Saxon after that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted March 8, 2012 Author Share Posted March 8, 2012 Saxon has been fine, but I don't feel committed to returning if we find something else we like. There is a lot of review in Saxon and we do enough for me to check retention, but we definitely don't do all the review for fear of revolt. We also rarely, rarely do the speed tests. We did one recently, and the number of problems completed was up, so they are getting better, but we are still a ways from completing "25 problems in a minute" or some similar, arbitrary requirement. I'm not sure how to spend time cementing the facts and concepts without inducing boredom... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Maybe some math games - Right Start has a math card games book that includes some of our favorite math games. You could also try Games for Math by Peggy Kay which is full of wonderful ways to reinforce math. Your library should also have a shelf of math readers that will add interest and variety. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted March 8, 2012 Author Share Posted March 8, 2012 Maybe some math games - Right Start has a math card games book that includes some of our favorite math games. You could also try Games for Math by Peggy Kay which is full of wonderful ways to reinforce math. Your library should also have a shelf of math readers that will add interest and variety. That's an idea. Perhaps I could ONLY do math game-type activities for, IDK, a month. It would be a break from current practice, but wouldn't necessarily require me to plan a year's worth of activities... Hmmm. Off to check out the RS book. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmpmelmack Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 I am doing sopmething similiar we are finishing up sm 1b in two weeks, I have 2a, but would just like his recall and his addition skills more solid, so we are going to start rightstart b and do it and then start sm 2a in the fall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meriwether Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Saxon has been fine, but I don't feel committed to returning if we find something else we like. There is a lot of review in Saxon and we do enough for me to check retention, but we definitely don't do all the review for fear of revolt. We also rarely, rarely do the speed tests. We did one recently, and the number of problems completed was up, so they are getting better, but we are still a ways from completing "25 problems in a minute" or some similar, arbitrary requirement. I'm not sure how to spend time cementing the facts and concepts without inducing boredom... Dd8 finished Saxon 3 just before she turned seven. That year is kind of fuzzy because I had a baby that year. I do remember that she had her facts down pat. It seems like you are cutting out the part of the program that would help the most with the facts. We don't think of the timed tests as timed tests. In fact, we call them fact sheets. Ds7 is finishing up Saxon 3 this spring. He is very comfortable with his facts, but he does every problem on every page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 I think Beast Academy or Miquon at a fast pace would be good in your situation. I don't see Saxon used very much with kids who are that far ahead in math. Usually it is Singapore or maybe Math Mammoth. Since they are so young, I would take this time to make sure they internalize math CONCEPTS (something Saxon is not strong in but Miquon is known for). It will make any higher math easier and more enjoyable. At least, that's what I've seen happen in my own children. You could possibly throw in MM blue books (especially add/sub 2A-3 because I don't think Saxon teaches mental math the way MM does), but if I were in your situation I'd drop Saxon and move to Miquon and then Beast Academy. And I'd add in Singapore if I really wanted more to do! Oh, and maybe RightStart games. I'd try to make math fun. (I've never once heard of Saxon being fun!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted March 9, 2012 Author Share Posted March 9, 2012 Thanks for all the input! Timed tests were causing stress issues, and the competition was getting painful. I do always assign at least 10 from each page, and then if the miss any they do more - as a result they are pretty careful. :D I would like to gently reinforce facts and recall before moving on. It is my understanding that Saxon 45 is notably different from K-3, so this seems like a natural "pause" or transition point. Rosie - I hadn't thought of Miquon, although cuisinaire rods are popular here. I assume it would be tricky to switch into Singapore at this point because of the different progression between mastery and incremental approaches? Perhaps I will start be sprinkling in more Math Game Days while we finish up this book... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Rosie - I hadn't thought of Miquon, although cuisinaire rods are popular here. I assume it would be tricky to switch into Singapore at this point because of the different progression between mastery and incremental approaches? I don't think it would be tricky to switch to Singapore because of mastery vs. spiral. That's just a difference in the schedule of when and how often concepts are done and reviewed. The thing that might be difficult is that Singapore is very strong on mental math and word problems. Saxon is not. You would possibly have to go back to an earlier level to get the mental math stuff that they don't yet know, and skip the stuff in Singapore that Saxon has already covered. But since they are so young I wouldn't think it would be too big of a problem to backtrack a bit. I know for Beast Academy, they recommend that "A student should be able to add and subtract multi-digit numbers and have a strong grasp of place value." Singapore's mental math techniques build an extremely strong understanding of place value. I would imagine, though, that MM add/sub books would do the same. (I haven't used them but everyone seems to say they teach the same concepts with less mental leaps than Singapore.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 I know for Beast Academy, they recommend that "A student should be able to add and subtract multi-digit numbers and have a strong grasp of place value." Thanks for posting that description! I was trying to decide if BA would be a fit for us and I hadn't seen this recommendation yet. It sounds perfect for us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 We don't do the facts sheets timed either; we just do them as part of a lesson without a timer. Games are still my favorite way to review and reinforce for a change of pace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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